Effort to send father to Sweet 16 faced scrutiny from SDSU, NCAA

A goodwill gesture by a Lakeside mom came under intense scrutiny by San Diego State and the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

Last Thursday, I wrote about Susie Agundes’ well-intentioned effort to raise money to send her Lakeside friend and neighbor to the Memphis Sweet 16 tournament to watch his two daughters play basketball for the Aztecs on Saturday. The day after the column appeared, Jay Larson, SDSU’s athletic director in charge of compliance, contacted her.

He told her the NCAA needed to know more about the relationship between Agundes’ family and the Duffys. Had they known each other before sisters Ashley and Allison Duffy were in high school? Did they exchange Christmas presents? And so on.

The exchange could have been a scene from the “The Blind Side” film except Agundes wasn’t trying to influence an athlete’s choice of colleges, merely help a single dad who drives a truck for a living travel to Memphis to see his two daughters play in a national tournament. Am I missing something here?

Larson explained that the NCAA’s preferential treatment rule came into question because it applies both to the athletes and to their parents. Apparently it doesn’t discriminate between strangers contributing to a fundraiser to help a parent of a high-profile athlete on a goodwill basis and people with ulterior motives who envision future monetary gain from their “gift.”

In the end, the NCAA determined no violation occurred because the families had known each other since their daughters played soccer as kids together. Plus, Agundes’ co-workers and friends had a history of contributing money to various causes. Don Duffy made it to the game and his daughters were delighted to have him there.

It eludes me how such a gesture could be perceived as giving a recruiting advantage to San Diego State. Nevertheless, it’s clear that NCAA compliance officials are ever vigilant for perceived violations.

Agundes thinks there should be an organization that can help parents travel to championship games. “As a parent, one of my greatest joys was being able to watch my daughter play high school sports,” she said. “I can’t imagine not being able to make that trip to see a game of this magnitude.” Right on.

Political brownout

A gubernatorial candidate forum went ahead Monday despite Democrat Jerry Brown’s refusal to participate. Julie Meier Wright, CEO of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp., had extended an invitation to the leading candidates, Brown and Republicans Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman, for a nonpartisan, nondebate forum focusing on economics, infrastructure and education. Brown declined without giving a reason.

“It’s a mystery to me,” says Wright, noting that Brown didn’t have to cross paths with the other candidates, who were interviewed separately by a panel before an audience of about 200. Given the importance of the issues, the EDC decided to proceed with the two GOP contenders anyway.

“Nothing may be more important to the future of our troubled state than the next governor,” says Wright, who served as secretary of trade and commerce under Gov. Pete Wilson.